


MorMor Advent Calendar 2016

by VirtualRevolution



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: 25daysxmaschallenge, Christmas, M/M, Sadness, mormor, one fanfiction a day, past child abuse (in chapter 9), side character dies, slightly twisted christmas stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-03 14:52:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 15,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8718142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirtualRevolution/pseuds/VirtualRevolution
Summary: Slightly twisted Christmas Stories with the Moran/Moriarty Clan.____________________25daysofxmas-Challenge (Credits to this post:http://openmynded.tumblr.com/post/153626876529/dudes-dudes-guess-who-doing-this-challenge-its)25 days, 25 fanfictions (hopefully)__________________________My tumblr: http://crownandshotgun.tumblr.com/





	1. Day 1: The List

**Author's Note:**

> Admittedly, this is mostly writing practice because I wasn't able to write much lately.  
> I hope some of you may enjoy this little Advent Calendar :)
> 
> Btw, English is not my first language, so I hope you'll forgive me some of the mistakes if you find them.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moriarty's Christmas preparations  
> _________  
> The first "proper" writing I did in a while... it's not really that good.   
> But the next chapters will get better, I swear! :D

“There are only two more weeks ‘till Christmas Eve, Jim.”  
“I am well aware, Sebastian.”  
“Well, then stop being an arse and at least let me decorate a little. This is just depressing.”  
Sebastian was leaning in the doorframe to the living room, staring at his lover – well, right now he did prefer to see Jim as his boss if he was quite honest. Because really, the little Irish prick was behaving absolutely idiotic. Childish almost.  
“No.”  
Sebastian rolled his eyes and finally made the few steps to break the distance between them, snatching away Jim’s newspaper. He actually had to hold himself back, not to beat the criminal mastermind with it.  
“Do you know how often Richard has cried about the fact that you’re completely irrational this year.”  
“As I see it.. the lot of you are irrational. Why should we celebrate a feast like that?”  
“I thought you were catholic? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”  
Jim tilted his head a little, the dark, almost pitch-black eyes seemed piercing as always. “Just because of a christening, that happened when I was hardly a toddler, I am not going to surrender to stupidness. And if we talk about the proper christen tradition, we do not need a fucking tree. Or some stupid lights. Or stockings or whatever the hell it is you all are planning.”  
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Can we, just once a year, behave like normal human beings?”  
Jim stared at him like he had lost his mind. “Alright, stupid thing to say, but seriously, what would be so bad about a tiny bit of Christmas Spirit around here?”  
Jim got up with a deep sigh as if he had to explain something very easy to a stupid child. “If you want real Christmas Spirit, feel free to pray and be happy some fictional miracle baby was born 2016 years ago.”  
“For fuck’s sake, James!”  
“You don’t deserve a proper Christmas, this year.”  
“What?!”  
Jim took a few steps towards an old commode and took out a thin file. Sebastian slumped down on the couch, watching him. “Not that thing again.”  
Jim only glared at him for a moment.  
“This is ridiculous.”  
Jim still ignored him and opened his mouth to begin to read.  
“No! Don’t bother. I know, I know… The list…You do realize what you’re doing with that, right?”  
Raising an eyebrow, Jim began to tap his foot, a clear sign that he was getting impatient. Usually, the men who worked for him started to nervously leave the room if he started to do it because it could end in a disaster. But Sebastian knew he wouldn’t do anything.  
A wide smirk spread on his face.  
“A list, Jimmy” he chuckled.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“You literally have a list… to note down whether we’ve been good this year or not.”  
Jim only glared at him. “Stop looking so smug!”  
“He’s making a list, checking it twice…gonna find out who’s been naughty or nice.”  
There was silence between the two of them for a moment, except for the sniper’s quite giggling.  
“I swear to god, basher… Have your bloody Christmas, then!” Jim cried as he stormed out of the room.


	2. Day 2: Stocking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Christmas from Richard's and Jim's past.

Something was off. Richard just knew it, as soon as he opened his eyes. The bed, on the other side of the room, was empty. The house was terribly quiet, it hadn’t been quiet like this, ever since the death of his mother.  
Refusing to think about that more than necessary, Richard rubbed his eyes and slid from his bed. “Jim?” he whispered into the room. Maybe they were all off to church? It was Christmas Eve after all. But why hadn’t they woke him up? Surely, they would have taken him along like every year right? “Jim?”  
Again, no answer. “Jimmy!” Slowly, panic rose in him and he left the room, careful not to make too many noises. He knew better than to disturb the adults.  
But his twin was nowhere to be seen.  
About half an hour later, Richard had checked every room, they were allowed in. Just their father’s study, his bedroom, and the living room remained free from Richard’s investigation. And it wasn’t only Jim that was missing.   
His father, too and their stepmother…   
Richard felt tears form in his eyes. Had they abandoned him?  
Of course, he annoyed Jim so often. Almost all the time. But he would never actually leave without him, would he?  
Finally, because he didn’t know what else to do, Richard went to the front door and sat down on the floor before it, waiting for a return of his family.   
Nothing happened.   
He heard the neighbors coming back, probably from church or a walk in the snow. Richard desperately wanted to run out, as well. He loved snow. He loved Christmas. Because usually, things were peaceful. Even Jim was.   
There was no Christmas, that Richard could remember, that his brother had done more than throw a tantrum. He smiled to himself. Jim usually wasn’t even in the mood to destroy anything. And their father liked them at Christmas Eve. Never hurt them on this special day.   
After a while of thinking about calming things like these, Richard fell asleep, leaning against the wall.

“Wake up.”  
Richard blinked, yawning a little and looked into his brother’s eyes. Sometimes he wondered why there were people who actually got them mixed up. Jim’s eyes looked completely different from his. They were cold and smaller, kind of.   
Richard’s were always bright and warm.   
“Jim! Oh.. I thought you’d left me!”  
He jumped to his feet and went to hug the other, but Jim pushed him off, much harder than necessary. “No. We need to go. C’mon.”  
“Why?... Jim?”  
“Let’s go to Grandma, yes?”  
Richard looked confused but Jim was already off again, fetching their coats and boots. “Put this on, hurry.”  
“Why? Where’s da?”  
“Doesn’t matter, come, quickly now, Rich, please.”  
It wasn’t often the case that Jim used this word, so Richard complied, wrapping himself in coat and scarf before putting on his boots.   
“Dad doesn’t like us visiting Grandma, though. Jim, I don’t want to get in trouble at Christmas.”  
“We’re not going to get in trouble. It’s fine… Dad wants to be alone.”  
Richard tilted his head. “Why?”  
“’cause the bitch left him.”  
Richard covered his ears at the nasty word, but Jim pulled him out of the house.  
“Mummy le…?”  
“She was not our mother!”  
Jim’s brows furrowed and Richard decided to keep quiet.  
This Christmas had turned out to be a wonderful Christmas after all. Their Grandmother had been so happy to see them, she had never stopped to feed the twins with all kinds of delicious food.  
All was good until there was a phone call and after that, she wouldn’t stop crying for hours.  
Richard never left her side, but Jim had even left the house. Not returning until it was almost midnight.   
Their grandmother had hugged him close, whispering things to Jim’s ear until he hid his face against her shoulder.   
The only thing he said was “I’m sorry.” After that he had stopped talking for quite a while, not even responding to Richard, not even when they were alone.  
They stayed at their grandparent’s home for months before Richard finally found out. Their father had committed suicide. Jim must have found him and taken Richard to prevent him from seeing as well.

It was only years later, that Richard had understood. There was no suicide at all. Jim had done all of this. Beating their father unconscious and then hanged him in the living room, strangling him with their Christmas stockings. A tradition their stepmother had insisted upon.  
He had taken the chance, when she had left their father, knowing it would be enough to make people suspect he had killed himself out of pain.


	3. Day 3: Santa Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Work on Christmas Eve

Sebastian took a big step over the dead body on the ground, trying not to get blood on his black boots. “Christ” he muttered with a frown. This really wasn’t the time. At all.   
From the distance, he could already hear the sirens of police cars coming closer. Scotland Yard really was good lately.   
Slowly he began to think, Jim might have been right, with his paranoid thoughts, someone would be spying for the detectives.   
He’d shoot them all.  
It had been some time, that he had been so frustrated to do a job like this.   
Usually, he liked it; having to face the client, try out little mind games - that he could later use on Jim, seeing how far he could go with the criminal – playing with his prey, letting it think it could get away, only to finally shot them down.   
But not right now. It had been a clean job. One shot. Straight to the head. No playing around. No wasting time.  
He wanted to get home.  
And it wasn’t because he was freezing out here in the stupid, dramatic warehouse. It wasn’t because D.I. Lestrade would be here soon, maybe even with that stupid detective git.  
It wasn’t because he hadn’t been properly sleeping for days now, or that he had just come back from a job in Siberia. No, all of that didn’t matter.  
He was especially grumpy because the timing really wasn’t the best for a rather peculiar reason.  
He finally felt something grab his ankle and stared down.   
“Bloody hell, die already” he growled and shot two more times.   
Another reason to be annoyed. One would think a bullet straight to the head would kill a man.   
Now he wasted two more bullets than necessary. Just. Great.  
And on top of all, he had blood stains on the boots.  
Jim would freak out.  
Sebastian sighed deeply and turned to leave only to see a young police officer standing there, the gun clutched in a shaking grip.  
“Don’t make this harder than necessary…” Sebastian sighed and shook his head. “Take that down... you probably don’t even know how to use that.”  
“You… you stay where you are! Stay there right now!”  
“I would… I really would love to stay and wait for your friends to arrive and have a chat and all that, but I have other duties tonight. Maybe next time.”  
He started walking towards the boy, who started shaking even more. Seriously, if he hadn’t been wearing a uniform, Sebastian would have thought of him nothing more than just a kid.  
“You should go home. It’s Christmas after all, isn’t it?”  
“I’ll arrest you..!”  
“No, I don’t think so.” Sebastian smiled. “You wouldn’t want to arrest Santa, would you?” He tugged the hat from his head. It was a bright red Santa Hat. Matching the red coat and trousers and white fake beard.  
While passing the kid, Sebastian put the hat on the detective’s head, pulling it over his eyes and send him to the ground with a precise kick. “Merry Christmas. I’ll go home, making my daughter happy, if you don’t mind.”  
Outside a black, sleek car was already waiting for him. When he opened it, Jim was sitting in there, a glass scotch in one hand and the hand of a little girl in the other. “Told you, I could get you Santa” Jim grinned and the little girl looked at Sebastian with wide eyes.   
“That’s papa!” Sebastian got in, taking the three-year-old on his lap. “Hey there, little one.”  
“Where’s the hat? It would have made this much more believable.”  
“Had to abandon it, a young uniform was there.”  
They never directly discussed their work in front of the child.   
The girl had been the daughter of one of their victims. She had no other relatives and so Jim had taken her in. Sebastian had stopped to try and convince him that it was a bad idea and the girl had grown on him.  
Jim had his phone out, making sure Sebastian stayed out of trouble.  
“Did you already see your presents?”  
She shook his head, tugging at the fake beard. “Well, it’s about time, then.”


	4. Day 4: Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Searching for the perfect tree.

“No!”  
“This one?”  
“Are you trying to be funny, Moran?”  
“This one?”  
“Over my dead body!”  
Sebastian sighed and pointed at the next one.  
“This?”  
“Look at it… it would be a Christmas Cripple, you doofus!”  
“We’ll never find one if you keep searching for a detail that bothers you. Because we all know, you always find something!”  
Jim glared at him.   
“I’ve spent the last three years in small, dirty doss houses, I want some kind of dignity.”  
“And… a Christmas Tree is going to help you achieve dignity? I don’t even have to say, that no one forced you to play dead man for three years?!”  
His breath came out in white puffy clouds as he spoke. He was still angry at Jim for not saying one word about his stupid, fake-suicide plan. And the fact that it had been hours since they started to trudge through almost knee-high snow in a darkened forest wasn’t making things better.  
“A Christmas tree will help” Jim muttered and walked a little faster, as he wrapped his scarf a few more times around his neck.  
Sebastian frowned.   
It had already been weird enough for Jim to come with him. Usually, he would have stayed home, where it was warm and he could have tea while sending Severin or Sebastian to get the tree.  
There were only two more days until Christmas Eve and the trees that were legally sold didn’t meet Jim’s standards.   
Sebastian sighed again and shouldered the chainsaw again as he followed the criminal mastermind.   
“Care to tell me why this is so important to you?”  
No reply came from the other and Sebastian kept quiet as well, until Jim finally stopped dead in his tracks.  
“That’s the one.”  
Sebastian looked up. To be completely honest, he didn’t see much of a difference to any of the other trees. Well, it would look good, he supposed, as soon as the decorations were on it.  
He logged the tree at a reasonable height for their living room and prepared to pull it to the car, hoping he’d manage it without ruining it.  
“I’ll help” Jim said as he lifted up the top of the tree, while Sebastian did the same on the other side.  
“Did the exile make you humble or what the hell happened to you?” The sniper frowned over his shoulder as they made their way back to the car.   
“This tree is perfect and I’m not letting you ruin it. Now shut up, tiger.”  
Sebastian chuckled slightly.   
It was the first time in over three years that he was called ‘tiger’. He had to admit, he had missed it.  
“Right.”

When they were almost home again – Sebastian was beginning to warm up again, desperately wishing for a tea… or even better, a nice grog – Jim finally opened his mouth again.  
“You forgave me. But he didn’t. I just want to make things at least a bit less annoying. Give him a nice tree and he might stop whining about me being selfish.”  
Sebastian glanced at Jim for a moment.   
The criminal was right, his twin brother had never forgiven him for a second. Sebastian knew it was no hatred, Richard was tired of suffering because of his brother. And he didn’t feel like he should forgive Jim. But he also knew it wouldn’t go on forever. Richard would give in.  
What did worry him was the drastic change of Jim’s persona regarding his brother. But a lot of things had changed over the years.  
Too many things, maybe.


	5. Day 5: Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fluffy chapter.

“It’s stupid nonsense.”  
Black, bright eyes looked at him with almost angry confusion.  
“But it’s nice.”  
“It’s a poisonous parasite.”  
“Then why don’t you like it?”   
Severin raised an eyebrow, Richard hardly ever snapped at him like that or anyone for that matter. He could see the younger one was almost about to storm out of the room.   
Their brothers had been going upstairs to the bedroom, to do… well, whatever they did in there, about an hour ago and had left Severin and Richard a rare, wonderful moment of privacy. And the mood hadn’t even been bad, no rather the complete opposite. It was great. But now, Richard was making a fuss over something stupid as that. Why was it so important? Wasn’t it just some stupid tradition? Sometimes he thought Sebastian was the lucky one. Jim was a nightmare but at least he didn’t get upset over small, unimportant things like this.  
“Oh c’mon, your brother was just ranting about how this is basically a result of birds shitting on trees and you’re still... Richard, wait!”  
Severin rolled his eyes as the smaller one stormed out of the room.  
Fine, if Rich thought he had to overreact that much, Severin would stay away.   
He grabbed his coat and the cigarettes and walked out of the house, having a smoke.  
Serious, how was it even possible to overreact like that?!  
It wasn’t like Richard was silently pining over him. They’d been together in this weird relationship for years now. And Severin never missed a chance to protect him or make sure Richard knew that he loved him. But apparently, that wasn’t what Richard wanted right now. Why did things have to be that complicated?  
He looked back up to the house, searching for the window he knew was Richard’s and his. Almost immediately the light was switched off and so Severin decided to take a walk. It was already dark outside, no wonder, it was close to midnight after all.   
But what else was he supposed to do? A sulking Richard was equally bad as a sulking Jim… just maybe less murderous. But he did get stuck in a pouting mood longer than his twin.

When he made his way back to the house it was half-past two in the morning. The house would be asleep by now, so Severin took care to be quiet as he poured himself a drink and sat down on the couch again, still thinking about the stubborn git he called a boyfriend. Really, it was absolutely ridiculous.  
“Fine” he muttered suddenly and got up again, going out and searching for a while in the darkness, using only his phone as a flashlight.  
It took him quite a while to find it but eventually he had what he was looking for and went back into the house.  
Sneaking upstairs he walked into the room, Richard was now sleeping in, switching on the lights, just dim enough to see something, he walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge.  
“Wake up, sleepyhead” he said gently, as he combed his fingers through the black hair. “Rich…”  
Richard blinked sleepily at him, immediately frowning again, until he saw a devious smirk on Severin’s face, and the mistletoe in his hand.  
“You’re impossible, you know that, right?”  
Richard only smiled with a nod and reached out to pull Severin into a kiss.   
“Didn’t think it would take you that long” he grinned and kissed him again.


	6. Day 6: Snow Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idiots in the snow.

Sebastian had asked himself why he stayed with a madman like Jim many times. He couldn’t even count them anymore. At some point, he had even had a pro/con list about whether he should leave or not. But… since he rather liked being alive he had eventually burned it and figured he had already made his mind up years ago.  
Plus, working for Jim also meant he got to travel a lot. Well, it wasn’t exactly traveling, but more killing people all over the world, but he still got to see plenty of places.  
This December for example, Moriarty had sent him to India. It had been an easy job but Moran still pretended to need more time, so he could stay for a while. He had been growing up here and even though he had been born in England and returned there at the age of 10 he had never really stopped missing India.  
Besides, London at this time was cold uncomfortable.  
He didn’t miss it.  
At all.  
No.  
No, really, here is was warm, nice and home. Well, maybe not that warm but it was much nicer than England. And he could finally go to see some tigers. That was probably what he had missed most.  
When he was a child, he had often snuck out to search for the wild animals and it still made him sick to know that they were still hunted down.  
He had even gone as far as to shoot two poachers while last week.  
So when the time had come to get back into the jet home, the sniper really hadn’t been in the best of moods.  
Rather the opposite. He didn’t talk to anyone and had just taken a few drinks during the flight, listening to music, the blinds drawn in front of the windows.  
When they had safely landed at the Heathrow Airport, a stewardess came to him with a smile, asking if his flight had been pleasant.  
Sebastian got up from his seat and nodded briefly while putting on his coat. “It’s a little snowy outside, Sir, be careful. And have a nice day.”  
The woman walked away again and Sebastian frowned. Snowy? How snowy was snowy?  
He pulled the blinds up and looked out of the small window but everything he could see was white.  
Slowly he took a step back and grabbed his suitcase to get out of the jet but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he was on the stairs out of it. “Christ…”  
‘A little snowy’ maybe had been a little too mild of an expression for what was going on. He could barely see anything, so thick was the snow falling in front of him.  
He was really surprised the pilot had even made the flight. Seemed like a fucking real danger to Sebastian and as he was finishing the thought something cold, wet and unpleasant hit him right in the face.  
“Do you plan to put down roots there, basher?”  
Sebastian groaned and rubbed the remains of the snowball, that Jim had thrown at him, from his face.  
“I can’t believe you… how the hell did you manage to make someone fly into this shit?”  
“Don’t be dull.”  
He could hear the smirk in Jim’s voice and finally saw him, standing a few steps from the plane. Wrapped in a thick coat, scarf, gloves…  
Sebastian sighed deeply and made his way towards him. “You couldn’t at least have warned me?”  
“Where would be the fun in that?” Jim was giggling now. Right, the most dangerous criminal mastermind the world had ever seen was immensely entertained by something ordinary as snow.  
Sebastian chuckled to himself and didn’t pay attention for a moment. He did regret that only a blink of an eye later when another snowball hit him. “Jim, for fuck’s sake! I’m tired and this is…!”  
Another one.  
“You think I wouldn’t know you had a nice little holiday? Like you almost needed a month.” Jim shook his head and threw another snowball at him. “JIM!”  
“And what about those dead hunters?”  
Sebastian shrugged and tried to avoid getting frozen water thrown at him. “So sorry, now stop being a baby.”  
He grabbed a handful of snow himself and rubbed it right into Jim’s face as payment.  
Neither of them knew how it had happened but all of a sudden, they were laying in the soon, both fighting to get the upper hand as they tried to get as much snow into each other’s clothes as possible.  
Finally, Sebastian pinned Jim down and out of an impulse kissed him.  
They looked each other in the eyes and a smirk spread on their features.  
“I really hope you get your driver to be quick or we’ll freeze to death before we’re home.” Jim chuckled and let Sebastian pull him to his feet again. “Got a hotel for tonight. It’s nearby.”  
“Even better.”


	7. Day 7: Snowman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into the childhood of Sebastian and Severin

“Have you two seen your grandfather?”  
Sebastian and Severin looked up from their textbooks, staring at their father, who seemed everything but amused. Not that this would be anything new.   
“No. But wasn’t be supposed to come around in the evening? He probably…”  
But the old man cut his son right off.  
“I do know when he was supposed to arrive, Severin. But apparently, he already left the house an hour ago.”  
Sebastian looked already down at his book again. He couldn’t care less. He didn’t even want to be here. England bored him. Everyone expected him to behave as best as he could, now that his father had returned to his oh so important work for the government… Sebastian wasn’t even really sure what exactly it was.   
And his grandfather always found something to nag him. Whether it was that his shirt wasn’t properly tucked in or the fact that his English had this ‘hideous’ accent. Sebastian would much rather just speak in Hindu… even German (which his mother had taught him secretly), if it meant he could abandon English from his mind.   
Maybe he didn’t even hate the language or the people… he just hated what was expected of him, ever since they had come back.  
But Severin was glad to be back. Sebastian’s older brother had grown up here and he had always been the good one after all.  
“Sebastian, I am talking to you!”  
The stern voice made him snap out of his thoughts.”  
“I’m sorry…”  
“I said get fixed up. Look at you; your grandfather won’t be amused” Lord Moran turned to leave his children alone again whilst he added: “If he’s ever going to show up.”  
Sebastian waited until he couldn’t hear his father’s steps anymore to get up and slap his book shut in frustration.  
Severin only rolled his eyes. “Really? You could make your life much easier if you’d just do as you’re told from the start.”  
Sebastian didn’t reply. He just stormed out of the room.  
Nearly ten years of his life nobody had cared what he was doing or wearing as long as he didn’t get into too much trouble and now, all of a sudden it seemed to be the most important thing in the world.  
He went to his room to fix his appearance in front of the mirror just in case his grandfather would arrive in the next few minutes.  
But the old man never came.  
A few hours later, Sebastian was sitting in the kitchen again, this time with his mother as she read him a story. Something his father would highly disapprove of (“The boy can read. You’re just spoiling him rotten!”) but Sebastian knew his mother liked it and he liked to see her happy. They still hadn’t heard anything of his grandfather as the phone began to ring again.   
It had been like this every two hours since their grandmother had called the first time.  
By now his father had become impatient and was almost shouting at his own father’s wife.   
So, his mother closed the book and told him to go out and play outside until dinner would be ready.   
The snow had never seemed to stop falling the last two days, so Sebastian had been excited for a chance to get out of the house and didn’t need to be told twice. He went to grab his coat and even made sure to remember to put on gloves and scarf.  
It didn’t even matter that much, that Severin was sent along to watch over him. Maybe that would be an advantage after all.  
“Let’s build a snowman, yes?”  
Severin rolled his eyes again but he followed his little brother and after a few moments in which both boys made sure they weren’t watched, he even started to have fun, chasing his brother around the house.  
“What’s this?” Sebastian stopped dead in his tracks and almost caused Severin to run straight into him.   
“What’s what?” The older frowned and followed Sebastian’s glance with his eyes. “Oh…”  
Snow had obviously fallen from the roof of the house, creating a nice, little mound of snow. Sebastian’s eyes lit up and he jumped towards it.   
“Hey, wait!” Severin called after him and followed, but as soon as Sebastian climbed on it, he sprang down again. “My foot touched something!” he cried and looked as if he had seen a ghost.  
“What are you talking about?” Severin went to inspect the mound closer, pushing the snow away at the spot Sebastian thought to have felt something.   
Suddenly, he let out a noise in horror and Sebastian tried to see what it was that was frightening his brother like this.  
Even though Severin tried to grab the younger boy and pull him away, there was no use. Sebastian saw.  
Their grandfather must have had arrived hours ago, and had been buried underneath the snow.  
It had been hard to tell, whether he had been suffocated by it or frozen to death. But it was a picture neither of the boys would ever forget.


	8. Day 8: Snowflake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian's strange meeting.  
> _____  
> Sorry in advance. I was under a lot pressure today. Hope you still enjoy.

It was cold, as Sebastian was sitting on a metal bench at a train station, waiting for his train to arrive.   
He looked at the big clock and sighed. Still over half an hour. He wasn’t even able to listen to music, as the batteries of his Walkman were empty once again. Just his luck.  
A child was crying loudly over the fact its mother wasn’t going to buy them ice cream and some clearly undereducated guys, roughly his age were being so embarrassing, Sebastian couldn’t even watch. So, he turned his head, searching for something interesting.   
Why was he stuck on a station one could literally only sit and wait? Nothing was here to do. He couldn’t even buy a newspaper, not that this would have helped much with his boredom.  
Again, he looked over to the door. About ten minutes had passed. Not too much.   
It wasn’t even like he wanted to arrive where he was supposed to have arrived about an hour ago – he was on his way home from university – but sitting here and freezing everything off was even worse.  
Frustrated he rubbed one hand over his face when he noticed someone else sitting down on the bench right next to him. He looked over from the corner of his eyes but could only see enough to know that it was a guy.  
Not even a nice, pretty girl. Why was a fucking bloke just sitting down so close to him?  
Sebastian turned to the other and opened his mouth to say something…. But he couldn’t.   
The other looked at him as well, raising an eyebrow and grinned devilishly at him, but didn’t do anything else.  
There was no way, Sebastian was able to pinpoint what exactly it was, that fascinated him about this stranger. Maybe it was the way he looked… or the clothes he wore. No…  
He shook his head and took a breath, again, looking over at the clock, wishing the time would pass quicker.  
But no, of course not, and unfortunately, he wasn’t exactly a Time Lord.  
His eyes flickered over to the other boy again, who had just retrieved a Walkman from the pocket of his coat and was now listening to music – lucky bastard – moving his foot in an unknown rhythm.   
When he noticed the way, Sebastian was now staring at him, though, he took his headphones off and grinned again. “This is awful, isn’t it?”   
Irish, then.   
The accent was just as thick as the boy was peculiar. “This is London” Sebastian shrugged, not in the mood for small talk.  
“Yeah, that’s what they all say. So.. I take it you’re going home?”  
Sebastian frowned. “What makes you think that.”  
“’cause I know you’re studying at Cambridge and what else would you be doing here with a suitcase like that?”  
“Visit frien…. How do you bloody know where I’m studying?”  
The guy only chuckled and looked back at the clock.   
“I’ve seen you on the campus. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”  
Sebastian scowled and didn’t return anything for a while. The boy went back to listening to his music and Sebastian got the chance to look at him for a longer while, even though he still only dared to do so from the corner of his eyes.  
He had black, messy hair, dark, almost pitch black eyes, long, thick eyelashes and wore this god forsaken grin, still.  
He was dressed in a dark red coat and jeans; wore old-looking boots and black leather gloves.   
“So…where are you going?”  
The guy put his headphones down and blinked at him. “Mh?”  
“Where are you going?!”  
“Oh, you know…’home’, I guess.” The way the other said the word made Sebastian nod with understanding. He knew this feeling.  
“My brother didn’t like the thought of spending Christmas in a dorm… or alone in the flat so, to make him stop nagging I go there.”  
“Family can be annoying.”  
“Greatly so, completely useless.”  
Sebastian cracked a grin at that.  
The train finally arrived and they got in, looking around for a seat.   
“Hey, what’s your name by the way?”  
The boy grinned at him and shook his head. ”Nah, I don’t think, I’ll tell you.”  
“Why not?”  
“Where would be the fun in that?” He giggled and turned to look for a seat in the other direction of the train. Sebastian just stood and watched him disappear among the other people. “Right… fucking special little snowflake.”


	9. Day 9: Candy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A childhood trauma story
> 
> ___________________  
> trigger warning for child abuse!!  
> Not detailed, just mentioned, but I thought I'd still warn you.

“Cookies?”  
Richard grinned as he walked into the sitting room, where Sebastian and Severin were sitting, just having come back from a job, that had involved hours and hours of concentration.   
They were both too tired to fight or even talk, so both of them appreciated the fact that they got treats literally brought to them.  
“Sure. Did you already bring Jim some?”  
“No, I never give him sweets.” Richard shook his head and sat down between them, so much closer to Severin, as he put biscuit tin on the table in front of them. “Careful, fresh from the oven.”  
“You actually baked /again/” Severin grinned and pulled Richard onto his lap.  
“It’s Christmas!”  
Sebastian still frowned. “Why don’t you give Jim a few? It’s not like sugar can make him much more of a maniac.”  
Richard shook his head. “That’s not it. He hates candy ever since…. Well, he hates candy. And I’m not sure he’s going to like these… they are really sweet. He can have them if he wants to, but I’m not risking it right now.”  
Now, Severin was frowning too. “Is there a story we should know about?”  
But Richard just shook his head. “No, don’t worry… just don’t tell him I mentioned anything.”  
“Not possible” Sebastian said and took one of Richard’s biscuits. “if I keep thinking about it, he’ll notice anyway.”  
Richard shook his head.  
“Well, I’ll just ask him them.” Sebastian pretended to get up and Richard reached out, pulling him back.   
“We’ve been living at our grandma’s for a while, when we were kids” he began, without looking at either of them. “So… I was scared of sleeping alone, and Jim was annoyed with me sleeping in his bed, saying I’d always kick him or something, so grandma allowed me to sleep in her bed some night.”  
Richard stopped and got up, checking at the door whether Jim was around or not. “Jim?!” he called loudly and when no response came he waited a few more moments before coming back.   
“Our grandma’s brother lived there too, for a while. And then suddenly, she threw him out, I didn’t even understand. I liked him a lot and I was so furious at her for doing it. I tried to make Jim join me at convincing her to let him move back in. But Jim just threw me out of the room. The next time I tried, he punched me and the third time he almost strangled me.”  
Sebastian raised an eyebrow but Severin only shrugged. Richard was well now and Jim would never /really/ hurt him too much, now, so Severin was alright. But Sebastian still wasn’t too sure what this had to do with Jim hating candy.  
When Richard didn’t continue, Sebastian nudged him. “And?”  
“Well, I did like this man because he’d always give his heaps of candy. And he read books for us. He was just always around and he was fun… I thought.”  
The room fell silent for a long while.   
“Did he ever touch you?” Severin asked, well, it might have been more of a growl.   
“No. Never… just…”  
“Just Jim” Sebastian said with a heavy sigh. “Well, that explains a lot.”  
Richard shook his head. “Not really, he killed our father before that happened. He’s always been like this - it’s just, well, extra shit. Apparently, he’s always given him candy afterwards and that’s why Jim hates it so much.”  
“But if he’s always been like this, why…?”  
“Why haven’t I screamed or told anyone or killed him?” Jim was leaning in the doorframe now, an apple in one hand, staring at them all with great frustration. Then he took a bite and shrugged. “I just didn’t. It never even crossed my mind. Only when he was gone, after our grandmother caught him, in the act, I realized I hated him.”  
“Is he.. still alive then?”  
“No, don’t be dull, of course, he isn’t.”  
“You killed him then?”  
“No” Jim sighed dramatically “didn’t get the chance. He died of cancer or something.” He shrugged like it was nothing. “Just so you know, I will skin you all, if you ever talk about it again” he called as he stormed back to his study, slamming the door shut.


	10. Day 10: Santa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim is a nerd.

It was already the third bauble breaking in the last five minutes and Jim giggled in amusement.  
“You could at least help, you know?”  
“Nah, you want this stupid Christmas shit, you do it.”  
Sebastian sighed and put the box with the Christmas decoration down on the table before sitting down next to Jim, looking at what was already done. “It’s not… completely shit.”  
“Not if you squint” Jim agreed with a grin and took another sip of the grog that his sniper had made.  
“You know… considering what this is made of, it’s not that disgusting.”  
“Just get drunk, will you?”  
Jim smirked. He really was in a good mood for a chance. It was almost enjoyable.  
“What got your knickers in a twist anyway? Did Santa never visit you when you were a little lad?”  
“Very funny, basher” Jim shook his head. “I just don’t care much for this Santa.”  
“This Santa? What is that supposed to mean? Too American for your taste again?”  
Again, Jim just shook his head. “Nooo, silly tiger.”  
He leaned back and finished his mug. Sebastian poured him some more and got a mug of his own. “Well, I can see you want to show off, so tell me.”  
“Santa or 1288 Santa was an asteroid, discovered on 26th August 1933.”  
“Of course it’s got something to do with space. You bloody nerd” he chuckled and ignored the slightly annoyed glare Jim gave him.  
“Listen here you little shit. Just because your uneducated arse doesn’t know some interesting facts, doesn’t mean you have to get personal.”  
“Something you’d never do. Lucky me.”  
Sebastian was still grinning as he got up again to try and fix the Christmas tree.  
“How close is that asteroid?”  
“435 million kilometers. It’s not even dangerous… like it never fell down and killed a bunch of people.”  
“Which is… sad or boring?”  
“Don’t try to be funny, darling.”  
Sebastian chuckled and continued his decorations. “You do realize this would go much smoother if you’d help?”  
“Wanna know why it’s called ‘Santa’?”  
The sniper sighed deeply but he shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”  
“Because in some photos, it looks like a series of red dots. Like it’s wearing Santa’s coat.”  
Sebastian looked over his shoulder. “Are you shitting me right now?”  
“Yeah. I don’t know why it’s called Santa” Jim finished his mug again and refilled it straight away.  
“Someone’s tipsy, mh?”  
“A little.”  
The criminal leaned back with a content sigh.  
“But, I’m still right. There are amazing pictures, that show the asteroid surrounded by blue-ish other planets and stuff and it’s the only red little dot around.”  
“Sounds nice.”  
“Richard thought it was Rudolf’s nose when we were kids.”  
“You bored him with stuff like that when you were kids? Jesus, why is he still around?”  
“Fuck off. Anyway, Santa absorbs a lot, and I mean a lot, of sunlight which makes it glow in the pictures. It’s beautiful.”  
Sebastian grinned again. Really, why was he even staying? Even though… an intoxicated Jim was not at all bad. “I see.”  
“Much more beautiful than that fat old man you call Santa.”


	11. Day 11: Elf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ridiculous fights.

When Sebastian came home, the bag with his rifle over his shoulder, he found his brother outside, having a smoke.  
“Since when do you smoke?” he yawned, tired from his day, but still curious enough to stay at his brother’s side for a moment.  
“The two… they aren’t human. I’m telling you.”  
Sebastian shook his head with a grin and put the bag down, taking out one of his own cigarettes, gladly accepting the fact that Severin was lighting it for him.  
“What do you mean? Jim and Rich?”  
“Of course!” Severin took a long drag of his cigarette and frowned towards the house. “They are completely insane. Ever since you were gone they were fighting like mad.”  
“And over what exactly?”  
“How would I know?! Something stupid for sure.”  
Sebastian chuckled slightly but decided to wait a little longer before going in, maybe he would be less tired in a bit and it would be easier to put up with whatever shit was going on in there. Or maybe the Moriarty twins would even have calmed down by then.   
They stood there like this for another two hours, just smoking away in almost complete silence. Sebastian liked that most about his brother. They hadn’t always gotten along very well, but those shared silent moments were really good.  
If he thought about it properly, they really were the sanest siblings he could think of, at the moment. The Holmes brothers were completely ridiculous with their constant, pretentious way of fighting, John Watson and his sister wouldn’t even speak to each other anymore to a point where the good doctor would even move in with a stranger, rather than asking his sister for help. And the Moriarty twins… Sebastian shook his head with a sigh.  
He was freezing, it had gotten dark so suddenly and he was still fucking tired and longing for a shower.  
“I’ll risk it” he muttered and headed into the house, Severin only huffed in response.  
As soon as he had closed the door, he could hear the voiced of the other two and rolled his eyes. Still, first, he cleaned his rifle and put it back into the safe, before even thinking of doing anything else. And he sure as hell, didn’t want to get involved in whatever was going on. As long as Jim didn’t plan murder on his brother, things would turn out alright, he was sure.  
But sadly, his way to the bathroom was blocked by Jim, pacing through the corridor between the living room and stairs like a tiger in a cage.   
“You alright?” Sebastian asked lazily and tried to pass him, but Jim wouldn’t make space.  
“Tell him no!”  
“Right.. no.. I don’t want to get involved, you know?”  
Richard came from the living room, anger in his usually so bright eyes.  
“Tell him, he’s being an arse!”  
“Really, don’t want to get involved” Sebastian said and raised his hands as if a gun was pointed at him. “Just let me get a shower.” He tried to shoo Jim away, but it wouldn’t work.  
“What is this about anyway?”  
“Elf” both of them cried, Jim like he was being tortured and Richard still angry.  
“Zwölf” Sebastian replied without thinking.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Sorry… I was thinking we were counting in German. What are you rabbiting on about?”  
“German?! I was talking about the blasted movie!” Jim frowned at him and Sebastian just shrugged.   
“What’s with it?”  
“It’s the most rubbish shit I ever had to watch!”  
“It’s tradition, Jim!”  
“No, it’s not. You just nag until I watch it with you every year.”  
“We do it every year, it is a tradition.”  
Sebastian turned on his heel and grabbed his coat, joining his brother outside again. “You were right. Let’s get a few drinks, alright? Come back later.”  
Severin nodded. “Much later.”  
“God, yes.”


	12. Day 12: Reindeer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New flatmate.

“Are you bloody serious?!” Sebastian stared at Jim in disbelieve. He had seen some shit over the years he had been living with the criminal mastermind but this…  
There had been the bloodbath in their living room, that had taken almost a whole month to clean up; the three rabbits that had mysteriously appeared (“Richard, we all know you were behind this!”) and that had been a pain in the arse to catch without making a mess out of the whole house; the burning Christmas Tree (four times in a row) and that one time the Ice Man had walked by, suddenly stopped and started to text. Sebastian remembered this very vividly. He almost had a heart attack back then.  
But now… really, there wasn’t even an explanation.  
“Is that… thing alive?”  
“Of course” Jim nodded with a bright grin.   
“Oh, Christ…”  
Sebastian turned and closed his eyes, rubbing his temple before looking over to Jim again. “No. It can’t stay here.”  
“Richard will love it.”  
“No.”  
“I bet Severin won’t care.”  
“Severin would if you wouldn’t have sent him away for a job and no.”  
“But Bastian, don’t be such a party pooper.”  
“No.”  
“Pretty please?”  
“Pretty no.” He shook his head. “How did you even think… for a second, that this would be a good idea?”  
“I like it. I’m going to keep it.”  
“Right…and what’s his name? Rudolf?”  
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s Comet.”  
“Right” Sebastian drawled and left the room, only to turn on his heel and walk back. “You are sure you want to keep this thing?”  
“His name is Comet and yes. We will keep him.”  
“Just look into his eyes” Jim giggled and grabbed the chin of the reindeer baby on his lap, making it easy for Sebastian to get a closer look.  
“Yes, well… looks a bit like Richard, I suppose.”  
“And he’s so soft.”  
Jim rubbed his face against the soft fur of the reindeer.   
“I get it, you’re in love.”  
Jim huffed in amusement. “Is somebody jealous, darling? You know you have no reason to be.”  
“I’m not.”  
“I think you are, though” Jim grinned even brighter. “Come here.”  
“I’m good.”  
“Come here, my sweet tiger.”  
Sighing in frustration, Sebastian came closer and sat down on the armrest of the chair Jim was sitting in. He reached out to pet the baby animal, while Jim slid one hand over Sebastian’s thigh.   
“Don’t get too attached, my dear.”  
“Why not?” It got a little harder to stay mad now, with Jim’s skilled hand in his lap. Just the thought made him crazy.   
“Because, obviously, we’re not going to keep him. I can’t believe you actually thought I was serious. It’s just for a client.”  
Sebastian sighed in relief. “Oh, thank god. You know, it’s hard to tell with you, sometimes. You’re just… really unpredictable.”  
“Even if I would have kept it, there’s no need for you to get jealous.”  
Jim got up and carried the reindeer towards a small exercise pen before coming back, climbing onto the other’s lap. “He couldn’t replace you.”  
“Is that so?”  
“Mhhm” Jim hummed, leaning in as if to kiss his sniper. “Not even I am twisted enough to fuck a reindeer, darling.”  
With that, he slid down again. “Alright” he clapped his hands. “Got some work to do, now.. if the client arrives, just hand it over. Everything’s already paid for. Bye, love.”


	13. Day 13: Ugly Sweater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim's and Sebastian's first Christmas preparations.

“Oh no!”  
Sebastian looked up from the book he had been reading and immediately started laughing. “Gosh, is that from my mother?”  
“Obviously…And no, I’m not wearing this!”  
“You have to, it would be rude not to.”  
Very unhappy looking, Jim held the giant jumper to his chest. It was almost big enough to look like a dress on him. Not quite maybe, but it was at least two sizes too big. Sebastian sniggered even more.   
“What on earth did you tell her?” Jim sounded furious by now. “Nothing, I swear, I just told her, I’d be bringing a friend from University for Christmas.”  
“That was all?”  
“Yes, Jim, that was all. What do you think I said?”  
“Seems more like she had the impression we’d be boyfriends.”  
Finally, Sebastian got up, making the few steps towards where Jim was kneeling on the floor. “It’s not like that would be very far-fetched, is it?” Sebastian leaned in a bit to kiss Jim, but he pushed him away. “That’s not the point!”  
With a heavy sigh, Sebastian leaned against the wall, opposite of Jim in the small dorm room. “What’s the point then?”  
“The point is…” Jim scowled at him, obviously not finding the right words.   
Ever since their strange meeting at the train station, they had run into each other ridiculously often on the campus, until it had led to a strange kind of friendship that had now turned into an even stranger kind of relationship. Now, a year later, Jim’s brother had decided to spend Christmas at their grandmother’s house, which Jim had refused to even come close, which was why Sebastian had invited him over to his family. Well, that was the reason he had told Jim, really, he had just waited for a chance to do so. It was strange how addicted he had become to that little Irish jerk. And family Christmas was always a nightmare, so having Jim around might be a nice factor, something to look forward to.  
“I don’t know your family and now they picture us having sex.”  
“I really don’t think they will picture that… My dad’s not exactly a friend of homosexuality.”  
“Oh, well /that/ really helps!”  
Sebastian chuckled. “Who cares? He’ll hardly be around anyway.”  
Jim threw the jumper at him. It really was something. His mother had sent him one, too, a few weeks ago, before Sebastian had asked if it as alright to bring someone. He hadn’t expected her to knit another one for Jim.  
This one was mostly green and red, had reindeer on it and Santa hats… Really, it was an eyesore and Sebastian had learned quickly enough just how obsessed Jim was with fashion. Even if he didn’t have to money to afford much and was too proud to accept Sebastian’s help.  
Sebastian grabbed Jim’s arm and pulled him into his lap, ignoring the struggle as he pulled the jumper over his head. “Really, stop fighting, we both know I’m stronger and this is probably the only warm jumper you ever had!”  
“Let. Me. Go!” Jim growled and tried to scratch Sebastian.   
It took a considerable amount of time but finally Jim was wearing the jumper, looking rather pissed now, not that it was something new.  
“Beautiful” Sebastian grinned and kissed Jim’s temple.   
“I hate you.”  
“No, you don’t. It’s your choice really, either you will wear this or spend Christmas with your grandmother.”  
Jim tensed and shook his head. “I could still stay here.”  
“No, you couldn’t. I’m your only friend here and you hate pretty much everyone else. Staying here alone with them, even for two weeks, while everyone is in a festive mood… I don’t want you to pull another Carl Powers stunt.”  
“Why did I ever tell you about that?” Jim groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I’m never going to drink again.”  
“Yeah, you will. You will have to, otherwise, Christmas is going to be unbearable. But don’t worry, I’ll take care you keep your mouth shut” He grinned and kissed the other properly.   
“You are just as insane as me, you do realize that, right? You should be running away or call the police on me” Jim breathed as Sebastian pulled back again.   
“I will if you won’t wear that ugly thing.”  
Jim had to laugh. “Fine, alright. But no photos!”


	14. Day 14: Hot Cocoa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family Crisis.

“Care to explain what happened there?” Sebastian tried not to let his voice sound too angry, unlike Jim who was pacing furiously around the house, ever since they found out.  
“I can’t believe you, you little….!”  
“JIM!” Sebastian interrupted and turned back to the sulking girl, that was sitting on the couch. She was now 14 years old and was causing trouble more and more with every passing day. Back when they had taken her in, Sebastian had known, that them raising a child was completely nuts. And considering that, it was no wonder, that she had turned out this way.   
Always in the most expensive clothes, that had been Jim’s doing, and she knew exactly how to defend himself and how to hurt.  
Sebastian could imagine what she was like in that expensive boarding school. A school for boys and girls, she had refused an all-girls school, claiming it to be too boring and really, it had been obvious what she had meant, but they had still given in.  
“He became boring.”  
“That’s not a reason to kill someone!” Jim shouted, which caused her to jump to her feet, facing the criminal. “You tried to do the same with Sherlock Holmes after you thought he was too boring! And don’t say that’s something else! Like you weren’t head over heels in love with him! I bet you even cheated and dad!”  
Sebastian could react quickly enough and could only pull Jim away after the resounding slap. The girl ran upstairs without another word and Jim fought to get out of Sebastian’s grip. “You really lost your cool at that? Like I never thought about that before.”  
Jim glared at him furiously, opened his mouth to say something but finally stormed off as well.

It took five minutes until Richard peeked out of the kitchen. “That didn’t sound so good.”  
“Oh… yeah well, no, I guess it didn’t.”  
“What are you going to do about Alex?”  
“Things are long taken care of. She didn’t even make many mistakes - well, none actually. Could almost really be Jim’s daughter.”  
Richard nodded. “You should know he never cheated with Holmes on you.”  
Sebastian shrugged. “Who can be sure?” he asked with a huff. “He clearly had more than a little crush on the bloody arsehole!”  
“Yeah, he had. And would they have met under different circumstances I bet they would have ended up together… but Jim… I would be lying if I said he wasn’t mean enough to cheat on you but he hates sex, usually. And if I say hate.. he’s just terrified.” Richard handed a cup of hot cocoa to him. “There were only two people he ever had sex with. You and… you know the story.”  
“Really?”  
Richard nodded. “I understand that he has overreacted. And you probably should talk all of that through but now all of you should calm down.”  
The sniper nodded. “Yeah… could you talk to Alex?”  
“Your daughter. I don’t want anything to do with that if it is as complicated as that.”  
“She likes you.”  
“I adore her but you took her in and I really don’t want to interfere.”

It was after midnight when Jim finally came back.   
“Where have you been?” Sebastian asked, looking up, as Jim passed him. “Jim, for god’s sake, answer me!”  
“Maybe I’ve been fucking Sherly, who knows?”  
“Alright, I’m sorry. I know you never had anything with him.”  
“Wouldn’t put it like that, but it certainly never been physical, would you move, please?”  
Jim stood, his arms crossed in front of his chest, as Sebastian blocked his way.   
For a while, they just stared at each other, until Jim’s lips twitched into a smile. “Alex’s staying here over the Christmas break and we’ve done nothing but fighting.”  
Sebastian shrugged. “I fail to see the joke.”  
Jim tilted his head a little. “We are” he pushed past Sebastian and disappeared in the kitchen, when he came back he held three mugs in his hands and nodded towards Sebastian to follow him.   
Without knocking, they entered their daughter’s room. She was sitting on her bed, clearly still sulking not even looking up when they entered. “I’m sorry, princess. But you just can’t do things like that.”  
“You kill people all the time.”  
“I do it with proper planning, sweetheart” he grabbed her chin, making her look at him, while Sebastian wasn’t sure where this was going. “and don’t ever disrespect me like that again. You have no reason to do so. We do everything for you, we even cover up your stupid murder, so a little bit gratefulness would be nice.”  
She looked at him with wide eyes, that finally made her look as young as she really was and nodded quickly.   
“Great” Jim drew back with a smile. “Well then…Some hot cocoa should do the trick” he handed over one of the mugs to her, gesturing for Sebastian to take one as well. “Let’s make this a nice time, shall we?”  
They all took a sip and suddenly Alex started grinning. “Uncle Rich made these, didn’t he? Yours never are that delicious.”  
“Fucking brat!”


	15. Day 15: Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard is an angel.

The wide, brown eyes seemed practically seemed to sparkle. The pale skin, almost like alabaster.  
There was no denying that this face was innocence itself. Severin had often thought, he did look like an angel and no one had ever been able to convince him otherwise. Not that anyone would dare to try anymore.  
But now – Richard really didn’t seem to look like a regular human being. He didn’t even look like he was from this earth.  
Rage was glowing in his eyes, his lips were thin and pale, stretched to an angry line.   
“You will regret this!” Even his voice sounded so different from the usual soft tone.   
“You will regret the day your filthy mother bothered to push you out of her womb.”  
His hands that were holding the gun didn’t shake, not in the slightest.  
Severin didn’t know what to say, or if he should say anything at all.  
So, he just stayed kneeling next to Jim, who was sitting, leaning against a wall behind Richard. His perfectly fitted suit ruined with dirt and blood. His own blood for a change.  
Severin had feared the wrath of Sebastian, who was currently in Serbia for a job, knowing his brother would go absolutely ballistic when Jim got hurt. And hurt he had gotten.  
A bullet in the stomach was hardly a triviality.  
Blood never seemed to stop flowing, even when Severin tried everything to stop it.  
Jim was clearly going into shock, just staring at his twin, not even one sound escaped him, no whine, no whimper. All while he was slowly bleeding to death.  
The blood had splattered all around him when he had still been standing, exactly where Richard was standing now.  
It gave the scenery the impression, that he had lost Bordeaux coloured wings, that were now lying on the ground beneath him.  
Like he had turned his back on god and was now fallen, just like his twin.  
Everyone always thought of Richard as a soft kitten, useless if put under pressure. But they weren’t entirely right. For his brother, Richard did almost everything.  
Now, he was wearing a simple orange cardigan over a mustered shirt and jeans.   
He certainly didn’t look like a cold-blooded killer.  
A shot echoed through the room, followed by a groan and the man that had shot Jim fell to the ground. Richard took a few steps towards him, still aiming the gun at him.  
He had deliberately shot him in the knee.  
“You will apologize to my brother.”  
The man didn’t say anything and another shot was heard. “I said, you will apologize.”  
“I’M SORRY!” the man yelled, holding his shoulder.  
“No, you’re not… and I won’t give you the opportunity to become sorry.”  
A third and last shot. Straight to the head.  
Richard stood still a little longer.  
Then he just dropped the gun and ran over to Severin and Jim.  
“Oh, will it be alright? It will, right? Sev?”  
“Stay with him, I’ll call the doctor.”  
Richard nodded and Severin got up, fetching the gun from the ground and called a trusted doctor of Jim’s, before looking back, still stunned at the way Richard had just behaved.   
He had never seen him like this.  
His little angel clearly had a fucked up side.   
And he thought it was the most stunning and beautiful thing he had ever witnessed. Clearly, he was just as fucked up.  
He sighed.   
Richard helped him to get Jim in the car, never stopped to hold his hand and whisper sweet, soothing words to his twin.   
It took a few almost the whole night until they were allowed to go and see Jim, who was laying down on his bed, with a faint smile when he saw Richard.   
“You’ve been quite a devil tonight, haven’t you, Rich?”


	16. Day 16: Toys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An 'innocent' Christmas talk.

It was Christmas Eve once again and Jim, Sebastian, Severin, and Richard sat together, drinking alcohol and cookies, chocolate and fruitcake.  
“What were the worst toys you ever got as children for Christmas?” Sebastian asked, pulling Jim into his lap.   
“Oh… I don’t know.”  
“C’mon, think.”  
“I know something” Richard giggled and reached for another busicuit.. “I actually got the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper!”  
“Never understood what’s the funny about that” Jim shook his head “I wanted to have that thing and you never let me have it.”  
“You’d broken it. But that’s not the point. It was recalled a few months later because some kid accidentally shot a firing missile in its mouth and choked to death.”  
“Wasn’t that the thing which is the reason why toy packages have the choking hazard warning?” Sebastian chuckled.   
“Yeah.”  
“Oh good god.”  
“I had the Creepy Crawler shit” Severin muttered over the giggling and laughing. “You know, where you could make bugs out of liquid plastic.”  
“Oh my… wasn’t that the shit where you had to stick it into a toy oven?”  
“Yeah, just the toy oven was actually a real one, it got really fucking hot” Severin grinned and showed his hands. They had several, small burning marks; Jim had always guessed what they would come from, but he had to admit, he’d never guessed that.  
“Ah, well, he’d never let me play with that either.” Sebastian grinned.   
“Yeah, look at you, fucking stupid. You’d melted your face off. Years later it turned out that shit was actually very toxic as well. So, Jim, if I get cancer you sue their next of kin.”  
James chuckled and nodded. “Consider it done. Oh! Wait now I remember! We had those Lawn Darts, remember, Rich?”  
“Oh god… those poor neighbors. Yes.”  
“What?”  
“They were banned in the eighties, I think… They were really dangerous” Richard started but Jim began to laugh.   
“No, they weren’t. Just for stupid kids.”  
“Which luckily you two weren’t.”  
All eyes were now on Sebastian, who just shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know..”  
“Oh, come one, I know something, I was actually really jealous of.”  
Sebastian raised an eyebrow before things seemed to click in place.  
“Oh! Right! The Atomic Energy Lab!”  
“You had one of those?”  
Richard put his hands over his mouth. “Didn’t that…contain real radioactive material?” he whispered.  
“Mhm, yeah. Out mother took it away, as soon as there were first doubts.”  
Sebastian shrugged. “I wasn’t that interested in playing with it anyway. Luckily, maybe. Our childhoods were fucked up from the families to the toys.”  
“I loved those toys. Seriously. I still want them all.” Jim smirked.  
“You can have the Battlestar thing next Christmas, everything else is too dangerous in your hands.”


	17. Day 17: Carol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Talk.

“What are you reading?”  
Jim looked up from his book and stared at Severin. “Dickens. A Christmas Carol.”  
“How fitting.”  
The criminal tilted his head and made some space on the couch. “What is it?”  
“What? Nothing.. I’m just asking to ask.” The older man shrugged a little but Jim simply shook his head. “No, you don’t. Why don’t you go and annoy Richard?”  
“We may have had a fight.”  
Raising an eyebrow, Jim looked back at the book. “Well, bummer.” He continued to read, while Severin sat down next to him, completely ignored.   
“Where’s Sebastian?” The words seemed far too loud after the long while of silence, in which only the quiet turning of the pages was being heard.  
“Oh… right, he isn’t here, is he?” Jim pretended not to care in the slightest way about what his sniper was doing. “Didn’t notice. I thought it was a big improvement, even.”  
“Oh, come off it. Got in a fight as well?”  
Jim smirked into the book. “Nah.”  
“Yeah, you did.”  
“A little.”  
“Was it your fault?”  
“Is it your fault, Richard’s pissed off?” Jim looked up again. “See? Let’s not talk about it. You know what I don’t get? Why Scrooge decides to change in the end of the novel. I mean, I get it… three spirits come to visit him and tell him love’s more important than personal successes but…” He let his voice trail off and shook his head.   
“So... you’ve been selfish again, have you?”  
Jim’s eyes glared angrily for the split of a second, then he went back to a soft smile. “I’ve been myself. I’m sorry if it took him so many years to figure things out.”  
Severin shook his head. “Maybe you should get a visit from some spirits.”  
“Oh, I know who I’d see. My father for my presence. Selfish, arrogant prick he was. Richard for my past, innocent naïve idiot he seems to be most times” Severin took a sharp breath but Jim ignored him “and probably you… for my future. Which is basically what you’re doing now, isn’t it? Like you actually had a fight with Rich. You just know I pissed Sebastian off and you try to convince me to go and apologize, which I will not do.”   
At a loss of words, Severin opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, without doing so.   
“You all know that I do things I think are necessary to do, no matter what. If you can’t handle this, you’re all free to leave.”   
Jim paused, putting the book down onto the table in front of them. “But you won’t do that, will you?” he purred.   
“Jim…”  
“I do not care, pet. I really, really don’t. Sebastian will calm down eventually.”  
“I don’t know… I mean, yes, of course, he will but who says it’s always going to be like this?”  
Jim shrugged. “Nobody. We can never know what happens next. But the real life is no carol, darling.”


	18. Day 18: Movie/Cartoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard and Severin get to know each other.

“I really don’t think this is such a good idea, Jim” Sebastian shook his head as they left the house. “Severin isn’t…” He waved his hand around.   
“Oh honestly, basher, don’t make a big deal out of this. Richard isn’t a baby. And he isn’t a porcelain doll either, alright?”   
“You’d kill us if he gets hurt, though.”  
“Nah, silly pet, I’d only kill your brother for now.”  
Sebastian sighed deeply but decided it would be best not to mention the matter again until shit really went down.

Severin groaned, half relieved, half in mental agony about the discussion of his brother and newly boss, after the door had closed. ‘This is going to be a long weekend’ he thought as he looked at Jim’s twin (what was his name again? Richard?), who looked back, uncomfortable and with wide eyes. Why couldn’t Sebastian make sure that nothing happened to him? His little brother had been with them for longer than Severin, so he was also much more comfortable with being around the twins… but of course, Moriarty seemed to have taken a huge liking (it’s a god damn crush) on Sebastian, so he got to do the fun stuff and Severin was left alone with babysitting.   
“So…what.. I mean..” Severin took a breath. Great, he was already sounding like an idiot. He really wanted to punch himself in the face.  
“We could watch a movie if you like? Jim’s men tend to stay around me, out of fear he could snap if they don’t anyway, so… I guess, you’re not going to be any different.”  
“Right.. yeah. Whatever you like.”   
“Good. Come along.”  
Richard walked out of the room, towards the living room, downstairs. It was weird, right? Living together like this? Why had he agreed to this?  
Maybe he really wasn’t so different from Moriarty. Trying to take care of his little brother.   
Even though, he didn’t think James Moriarty was capable of feeling like a normal human being.  
“What exactly.. oh, right, you already decided.”   
Richard shrugged. “If that’s fine with you? It’s not exactly a movie, but it’s a nice series. Avatar, The Last Airbender. It’s funny.”  
The elder raised an eyebrow. Funny, huh? Alright, he was curious to see what kind of humour Richard was having.  
About two hours later he knew. He fucking knew. And he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry about it.  
Soft little Richard. So that’s why Moriarty wanted to be sure his brother was safe.   
“That could be your brother” Severin muttered, pointing at Zuko. “I mean.. sorry” he added quickly but Richard just laughed. “I know. I’d be much more Iroh. I mean, I stay with him but I’m nothing like him.” He shook his head.  
“No… you really are nothing like your brother.”  
“Is that a bad thing? Most of the people he sent to look after me, went crazy after a while. They thought I was like him and never managed to get over the fact that I’m not.” He shrugged.   
“Isn’t it bothering you, that he thinks it’s necessary to always have someone looking after you?”  
“It is bothering me that I never get to know them and that it’s always another stranger. He’s always been like that towards me. So.. do you hate me?”  
“No. Obviously not. You think I’d watch some children’s cartoon with someone I hate?”  
“Oh, I don’t know. People do strange things when they’re afraid of what my brother might do to them.”  
“Well, I’m not that stupid. I’m not really afraid of him.”  
“You do things you don’t want to do, just because he tells you to. He’s not even paying you for this, is he?”  
“Well, not exactly… but I might understand why he is like that.”  
“You’d be the first person on this planet.”


	19. Day 19: Decorations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decorating the Christmas Tree.

“Here.”  
“Thanks…. Oh, hell no! I’m not touching that! Throw it out! Christ, Jim!”  
“It’s round and you can put it on the tree.”  
“It’s an /eyeball/, Jim. Where the hell, did you even get it?”  
“Last meeting, the client annoyed me.”  
Sebastian rubbed a hand over his face with sheer frustration. “Right. I can’t deal with this right now. Richard..”  
He took what the other Moriarty twin gave him and took a closer look at it. “What…?”  
“It’s the Tardis.”  
“Yes, I can see that.”   
“It comes on top.”  
“Shouldn’t there be an angel or some shit like that?”   
“A weeping angel, mh?” Severin snorted from where he was sitting but Sebastian just glared at him. “Maybe you could move your arse here and be a proper help, you twat.”  
“Don’t be vulgar.”  
“Found something else.” Jim was back from – hopefully – throwing the eyeballs away.   
“Jim, if this is something gross, eyeballs, testicles, I don’t care what, I will come down and smash your fucking head in.”  
“Fine! You never let me have any fun.”  
“I’m not Watson. Severin isn’t either, there will be no bloody body parts in this house. It’s disgusting and it smells” he said as he reached up and put the Tardis on top of the tree. It didn’t even look back. At least it was part of the British culture and not part of an ex-client.  
But, really, it wasn’t like Sebastian had expected anything else. It was like this, every Christmas. Every last one. They almost had none of the decorations of their families left, since every Christmas things would end up destroyed and so Richard would come up with some nerdy, fluffy decorations, Jim would take a piss and show that he really didn’t want to be helpful at all by bringing all kinds of rubbish and Severin would have a nice laugh on the couch, watching them.  
So, this year, they ended up with a Doctor Who themed tree, taking all kinds of things that Richard found, god knows where. Sebastian certainly didn’t ask. He didn’t care as long as things got to an end, eventually.


	20. Day 20: Poinsettia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim's outfit.

Jim stared at his wardrobe and clicked his tongue. He couldn’t decide what to wear and he had already been interrupted by Sebastian pestering him like a bloody dog. Well, fine, maybe he could have stopped him if he had really wanted to… but he really hadn’t.   
So, he had to shower another time and now stood here again, unable to decide. Though, at least, now he had thought to lock his bedroom door, keeping other distractions out.  
“This is ridiculous. Just put something on.” Sebastian called as he knocked on the door but Jim ignored him. If he couldn’t decide, he couldn’t decide.   
“Jim! Just take a suit and get done with it.”  
“So I walk around as sloppy as you do?”  
He could practically hear Sebastian rolling his eyes before his sniper clearly walked away again. Like Jim cared.  
He wasn’t happy with what he saw, so he would continue to search until he found something, to hell with Sebastian’s impatience.  
Jim still remembered the days when it had been him who had been dressed in under three minutes and Sebastian who had turned in front of the mirror, thinking about what would look best. But that had been before he had gotten his hands on more money than he could ever spend.  
Back then he used to be just as annoyed as Sebastian was now.  
Well, that wasn’t what he should be thinking about, right at this moment.   
Finally, he pulled out a white shirt and put it on along with some trousers, figuring it was at least a start. He looked around the things he almost never wore just for the fun of it and pulled out a green vest. Now grinning, he searched for a few moments and took a red jacket out of the wardrobe.   
Yes, he liked this very much. It was funny and ridiculous and still so very classy. Topping it all of with a bow-tie, Jim was finally ready to unlock the door.  
As soon as he sat one foot out of the door, Richard walked by, with a flower in his hands.   
His twin immediately started chuckling. “I like this outfit, Jim. Looks like a poinsettia. Very Christmas-y.”  
Jim hummed, obviously in a good mood, and kissed his brother’s cheek. “I know.” Richard took a surprised step back, still grinning.  
“That it? That took you hours?!” Sebastian had gone upstairs but stopped halfway on the stairs.   
“I look fabulous, darling, you don’t need to say it, I already know.”  
“I’m glad about that, ‘cause I wouldn’t have said something.” Sebastian could only shake his head and turned around to walk downstairs again, not even caring anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested: http://www.comercialmoyano.com/4831-thickbox_default/mode-sakko-rot-aus-baumwolle-satin.jpg was my inspiration.
> 
>  
> 
> /These "prompts" are harder to make into stories than I thought.


	21. Day 21 Favourite Dessert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who can be trusted with cooking?

“No.”  
“You have to help. Sev is useless at cooking and Jim will just ruin everything.”  
“I wouldn’t actively ruin anything, I just really don’t care.”  
Jim grinned from his spot where he was sitting on the backrest of the couch, one leg draped over Sebastian’s shoulder. Both of them had a big mug of tea, with a bit of rum in their hands. For Sebastian, it was just relaxing after all the work he had put into this Christmas already, for Jim… well, it was always clever to keep him a little tipsy when he didn’t have to work and was forced to join the other almost the whole day.   
“And I’m not useless” Severin called from the hallway as he entered the living room, but Richard only waved his hand, as if talking to a child. “Yes, you are. Last time you tried to make Pasta… well, we said we wouldn’t speak of it again.”  
If it came to cooking, Richard really could be a pest, they all knew it.  
“Well, Sebby has done enough, you can do it, Richy, come on, don’t be a nag,”  
Richard glared at his brother than he smiled sweetly.   
“If you can make Sebastian help me cooking, I’ll make a nice dessert with a lack of sweetness, just for you.”  
Richard wrinkled his nose and finally nudged Sebastian with his foot.  
“No, come on, Jim!”  
“Just go and help him, yes? For me? Please?” Jim blinked at Sebastian nudging him over and over again until the sniper finally got up with a heavy sigh.  
“I hate you.”  
“No, you don’t” Jim’s voice was a high-pitched singsong.  
“This is supposed to be a holiday!”  
Jim shrugged. “So? Plenty of people are cooking right now. Even the normal ones. Plenty of mothers, plenty of fathers, plenty of..”  
“Yeah, shut up. I get it.”  
Sebastian grabbed Richard by the collar and pulled him with him into the kitchen.   
Best to just get shit done. And yes, Richard was right, Severin was useless when it came to cooking and Jim wasn’t to be trusted with knives or hot water or really…about anything they would need.   
The Pasta Incident that had almost poisoned them all still made them shiver every time they thought about it and the last time Jim had ‘cooked’… well, Hannibal Lector would have been impressed, Sebastian was sure.


	22. Day 22: Favourite Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooking Part II

“You do know what you want to do, right?”  
“Of course. I’ve got a plan. You take care of the potatoes and the vegetable, I’ll do the… well, the other things.”  
It was fairly obvious, that Richard had wanted to say ‘important things’ but Sebastian only shrugged, is wasn’t like he was dying to cook more.  
They were already in the kitchen for half an hour, when Jim and Severin walked in as well. Jim put the kettle on again, shoving Sebastian’s mug towards him, while Severin got out two more and a bottle of rum.   
“Thought we might just keep you company” Severin grinned and leaned next to Richard against the counter, watching him.  
“Right, that’s oddly nice of you” Sebastian answered, while Richard just nodded shortly, and grabbed a few knives that were lying around to make sure they were nowhere near Jim.   
“I think, I’m drunk” Jim grinned back and grabbed a peeler, running his fingers over the sharp blade. He always did shit like that, it was just another way to keep his fingers busy, Sebastian wasn’t sure why… Jim usually wasn’t a fidgety person but he had a few curious habits. And all of them involved dangerously sharp objects. So, really the peeler wouldn’t do much harm.  
“Yeah, you seem like it. You feeling good?”  
“Very.”  
Jim yawned and leaned back, only occasionally stealing a couple of tomato slices, until Sebastian batted his hands away, without even having to look.  
Richard was less gentle and hit him with a spoon in the back of his head after a while.  
“Stop it.”  
Jim only glared at him, though he was in a far too good mood to do anything.   
“Where did you even get the recipe, Rich? Seems like of familiar.”  
“It’s a family recipe.”  
Sebastian frowned at Jim who just shrugged. He had been under the impression, that the twins hadn’t been blessed with nice childhood memories, so why would they follow a family recipe.  
Richard looked at them and shrugged.  
“Well, it’s your family.”   
Sebastian snorted and Severin shook his head in disbelieve. “Who did you get that?”  
“Oh… That might have been me” Jim raised his hand. “Christ, almost forget about it. Your father annoyed me so much when I was spending Christmas at your place back in university, so I stole the book that your mother used at Christmas, with all the recipes he liked so much.”  
“That was you?” Sebastian stopped cutting the vegetable. “Fucking hell, Jim! He was really angry. You should have told me.”  
Jim shrugged with a grin. “Sorry.”  
“Oh well, good work anyway.”


	23. Day 23: Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas at 'home'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry, I can only upload today, my laptop died yesterday...  
> BUT, that means you get 2 stories today. I'm not leaving anything out :D
> 
> Merry Christmas everyone :)

It was amazing, how rooftops were actually able to glisten – not just in songs. And the stars even seemed to be more beautiful against the cloudless, dark night sky. Maybe things could be nice. Maybe – just this once – things could actually get better.  
In London one never had such a nice view. Even though by now he had gotten to love the city dearly. It was weird. When he had been a child, he had always thought the Irish people weren’t able or allowed to like London. But here he was, almost feeling homesick, despite the fact how much he loved to be here.   
He hadn’t wanted to come here. But Richard had insisted. Now, here he was. Alone. He hardly believed that was what Richard had had in mind when he had told Jim he wanted to spend Christmas at home for once. Jim had tried everything to convince his twin just how bad that idea was, but well, obviously, he hadn’t succeeded.   
Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and though the beauty of the night and his surroundings was almost breath-taking, Jim wasn’t at all happy.  
It hadn’t been his fault, it really hadn’t this time. Well, technically it had been. If you wanted to be an arse and be particular about it.   
He had known shit would go down if they would be coming home. Et voila, he had been right.  
Like that was much of a surprise.   
The bells of the cathedral began ringing and Jim sighed deeply. He remembered the years he had spent in a catholic school. The people he had had to be around. The bitterness that had blossomed inside during that time.  
He shook his head and looked down. Underneath his feet, the streets seemed so small and insignificant. He liked it. If there would be people on the street now, he would be able to watch them hurrying along and none of them would even know he was there.  
“You didn’t have to do that, you know?”  
Richard’s voice was soft but still able to be clearly hearable over the loud bells. Jim didn’t look up to look at his brother. “You didn’t have to come up here,” he retorted “you know that.”  
“Oh yes” there was a light grin in Richard's voice as he sat down next to Jim on the roof, keeping silent to look over the small town they had grown up in as well. “But it’s almost Christmas and we said we were spending it together.”  
Jim couldn’t help but to shake his head and smile ever so slightly at that.   
“God, I hated him so much. Remember how his brother pushed me into the pool in second grade?”  
Jim looked at Richard now, noticing his brother was grinning. “He thought you were me. It was a mistake.”  
Richard nodded. “Yeah, I know. But you still killed him for that.”  
“He almost killed you. You couldn’t swim – like an idiot.”  
“What did Mark do, though? Why did Carl’s brother have to die as well? Why now? We haven’t seen him in years, Jim.”  
Jim shrugged. The bells seemed to get softer. “He had it coming. He was particularly annoying tonight.”  
“But in church, Jim!”  
“Told you I didn’t want to go.”  
“You’re the worst.”  
“Merry Christmas.”


	24. Day 24: Family Traditions

Richard let himself fall back on the couch. “Oh god, I’m going to die!” he exclaimed with a bright, satisfied smile.   
“We’re all going to die” Jim muttered back, as he lay his head down on Sebastian’s lap, though he was more careful not to lose that stupid paper crown from the Christmas cracker.  
“God, I love Christmas” Severin sighed, as he lifted Richard up to have a place to sit down as well. “At least nowadays.”  
“Yeah, it’s so much easier to appreciate if you spend the rest of the year killing people, isn’t it?”  
Jim chuckled and shook his head.   
“This is much better now than when you’re a child. No matter what you do the rest of the year.”  
“Oh, I remember. Church before breakfast” Richard shivered. “And then church again in the evening. Why did we go that often?”  
Jim yawned. “’cuz dad thought we were sinning too much? Who knows?”  
“So.. church, breakfast, then we were sent to our room, then church again, back into a room, dinner and back to the room for another hour… and then handing out of presents. I think that was all of the routines, wasn’t it?”  
“Yeah and during that time dad got really, really drunk.”  
“Wonderful” Sebastian commented drily. “Guess we had a nicer Christmas, then.”  
“Oh god, yes.”  
Severin chuckled a little. “Breakfast, wrapping the last presents, tea, and cookies, visiting grandma and grandpa…or well, them coming to us, again tea, church, dinner waiting for Father Christmas and then presents and drinks and more food.”  
“Oh, and I remember the door to the living room being locked the whole day, so we couldn’t go in. And the Christmas Cracker.”  
“And board games.”  
Richard pouted. “That’s so much nicer.”  
“Yeah, yours was just depressing. No wonder you turned out like this.”  
“You’re one to talk, Seb” Jim chuckled.   
“Well, we’re not even having a nice Christmas like this, now.”  
“What do you mean? This is great!” Jim’s protest made Richard wrinkle his nose.  
“All we do is sit around and eat.”  
“And watch the Doctor Who Christmas Specials…or whatever is on the telly. I love it.”  
Severin pulled Richard a little more onto his lap to hide a grin against his fluffy hair.  
“Admittedly, it’s not bad” Richard finally said and switched on the telly. “But next year we have to start our own traditions.”  
“You say that every year.”


	25. Day 25: Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gift.

“Why did we have to come here?”  
“Jesus, because it’s polite and well - I kind of wanted to see that face, you’re making right now.”  
Jim shot him an annoyed glance but then rang the doorbell and clutched the basket he was carrying a bit tighter.  
“Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of alcohol.”  
“Did you know that until I met you I never drank anything? And I never had a reason to. You’re the nightmare of my sleepless nights. Literally.”  
Sebastian only had time to chuckle before the door was opened swiftly and an old man looked, already drunkenly grinning, at them. “Merry Christmas, come in!” He pulled Jim into a tight hug from which Sebastian eventually had to get him out, to make sure Jim wouldn’t kill the old man and neither be killed by a too-tight embrace.  
“Hey uncle” Sebastian smiled and shoved Jim further into the house.  
“Just out the gifts under the tree, yeah?”   
“’course.”  
Jim dreaded the next moment. Stepping into the living room, having all the people stare at them.   
It was the first time in years they were actually visiting the Moran family. The first Christ-mas without Lord Moran. Severin and Richard had decided not to go. Not that Severin had loved their father more than their mother but he also never had a proper relationship towards their mother… not like Sebastian had. And Richard had never met anyone of the extended Moran Clan.  
All eyes turned towards them and after a while, an old, graceful lady got up and stepped towards them. Her expression harsh, the hair gray but beautifully combed back. She seemed like she was about to slap them both, but when she stopped right in front of them, she just pulled them into a hug.   
“Merry Christmas, mother.”   
“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moran.”  
Half an hour later the discussions were loud enough to drive Jim crazy. He wasn’t a quiet person, at all. But so many people, all talking at the same time, bursts of laughter and screams. He didn’t like it at all.  
He grabbed his glass of champagne again, sure he had already finished a whole bottle by himself by now and downed it. Though Sebastian was happily chatting with some cousin of his, he gently squeezed Jim’s knee underneath the table, making him at least a little more relaxed.  
“I’ll go get something else… to eat” Jim muttered and got up, heading towards the kitchen and out of the small door towards the patio.   
“Sprichst du mittlerweile deutsch, mein Junge?” (“Do you speak German by now, my dear?“)  
Sebastian Mother’s appeared out of nowhere next to him. Of course, Jim knew it wasn’t possible to appear out of nowhere but it had seemed like it.  
“Ja.” (“Yes.”) He shrugged uncomfortably, not knowing what was expected of him.   
“Das ist gut. Pass gut auf ihn auf, versprich mir das.” “That’s good. Take care of him, will you?“)   
“Auf Sebastian? Warum sollte ich….” (“Of Sebastian? Why would I…?”)  
“Oh, ihr macht mir nichts vor. Ich weiß, dass euer Leben gefährlich ist. Und ich weiß, dass euer Geschäft nicht gerade ein legales ist. Ich möchte nur sicher gehen, dass es ihm gut geht, solange es geht, Jim.” („Oh, you don’t fool me. I know your lifes are dangerous. And I know your business isn’t exactly legal. I just want to be sure he’s alright for as long as it’s possible, Jim.”)  
“Ich passe auf ihn auf.” (“I’ll make sure he’s save.”)  
She smiled and patted Jim’s shoulder, turning to go inside again, but she looked at him once again. “Wie geht es Severin?” (“How’s Severin?”)  
“Gut.” (“He’s fine.”)  
She nodded.  
“Very good.”  
With that she was inside again, merrily smiling, leaving Jim behind.  
It took a couple of hours more until Jim finally convinced Sebastian to go. He didn’t want to stay any longer. When they were in the cab, his sniper watched him frowning.  
“What?” Jim asked, no patience left in him, after this hell of a day.  
“Did you talk to my mother?”  
Jim hesitated for a moment. “Briefly.”  
Sebastian nodded, but didn’t say anything and just placed a small, neatly wrapped up gift in Jim’s lap.  
“What’s this?”  
“I do not know. Mother said it was for you. For you and your eyes only.”  
Nodding, Jim took it and put it into the pockets of his coat.  
He didn’t unwrap it until later in the night when they were home and Sebastian was chatting to his brother about the family. Jim didn’t care what they were taking about. He didn’t care whether Severin regretted his decision not to have gone there. He didn’t care that it bugged Sebastian not to know what their mother had given to Jim.   
He just locked himself in the bedroom, setting the present onto the nightstand and slumping down on the bed.  
He didn’t feel like unwrapping it. Not after the talk they’ve been having. Not if it was strictly meant for him.  
It took him three hours to even touch it again.  
But when he had unwrapped it, his eyes lit up. “Oh.”  
And when Sebastian asked him about it later, he just kissed him.  
“Your mother is a brilliant woman. Brilliant. Marvellous. Absolutely amazing!”


End file.
